Monument Valley 3

Genre: Isometric Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Monument Valley: The Collection, along with Monument Valley and Monument Valley 2.)

Monument Valley 3 is a family-friendly character-based Isometric Puzzle game released on mobile devices in 2024, then ported in 2025 to PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Like its two predecessors, Monument Valey 3 has players figuring out how to get from one point to another on levels designed like M. C. Escher’s famous lithograph art Relativity, with players making use of perspective to join up sections that otherwise wouldn’t connect, in a similar manner to games like Echochrome and to a lesser extent Fez. New to this sequel are a few added gameplay elements, most notable likely being the ability to sail to different structures suspended in water, giving players the ability to approach these structures from different points.

As with the prior games, Monument Valley 3’s presentation is one of beautiful minimalism, using 3D visuals to depict simple characters on architecture constructed from geometric shapes, but using color and gradients to give the entire game a painterly look that’s very striking.

While this series has always featured beautiful minimalist visuals, this time I feel like the soundtrack needs special mention, because this game’s instrumental soundtrack is simply beautiful, giving this game a magnificent emotional depth.

As for the gameplay, while the addition of things like boats add new and interesting twists, the core gameplay remains largely unchanged from the first game, which remains extremely simple, as you can really only move your character, or interact with devices on-screen such as cranks that spin around parts of the scenery or slide them to and fro. Using these simple tools, players must exploit perspective to create a clear path to where they want to go. It’s a clever gameplay concept that the game continually finds new ways to make use of to keep things interesting, repeatedly giving players new ways to look at the game.

However, as with the port of the two first Monument Valley games, I do think this game has lost something in the port. Gamepad controls are stiff and awkward compared to the touchscreens this game was designed around, and sadly the Nintendo Switch version lacks touchscreen input. Thankfully, the game doesn’t call for quick reflexes that would have you struggle moving your cursor where you want in time, but it’s still an annoyance all the same.

I should also note that this game is only a few hours long, and while it’s excellent while it lasts, some players may be disappointed that it’s over so quickly. And at double the price of its predecessors, $20, it’s a bit harder to excuse this extremely short length.

Overall, I think Monument Valley 3 is an excellent Puzzle game and a solid sequel to the first two games, and fans of the prior two games should absolutely get their hands on it. I think the best version of this game may still be on mobile devices due to the controls really being best-suited to touchscreen controls that are inexplicably not supported on Nintendo Switch, but even despite this irritation and the game’s overall short length, the beautiful presentation and quality puzzle design more than make up for those flaws.

tl;dr – Monument Valley 3 is a family-friendly character-based Isometric Puzzle game much like the first two games, where players need to navigate M.C. Escher-like structures by making use of perspective to form pathways, with this game adding new elements like boats you can navigate to different positions. The presentation and puzzle design here is once again fantastic, though the game is still short, the gamepad controls are far from ideal, and touchscreen controls aren’t supported on Nintendo Switch. Despite these issues, this is still well worth a look for Puzzle game fans on Nintendo Switch.

Grade: B+

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